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Saturday, September 29, 2012

When a courier for the powerful crime family descended from Niccolò Machiavelli realizes he’s being followed by a rival family assassin, he takes a detour through the English countryside to shake his pursuer. He manages to hide his precious cargo—a fortune in blood diamonds from Sierra Leone—before his pursuer collides with an English family on a holiday drive. The courier drowns in a swollen river; the mother and son die in the crash. The father is emotionally devastated, and retires in despair from his MI5 cipher career.

Five years later, the head of the Machiavelli crime family, Alberto Lorente, is still in pursuit of his missing diamonds and is ready to launch an ambitious scheme to recover them. What follows is a twisted trail of murder, kidnapping and layers upon layers of subterfuge. The British Security Services are seriously compromised, but no one knows how or by whom. Suddenly, our former MI5 cipher expert is on everyone’s shopping list…

Where to buy in print

“Hey! Mr. Madden. I’m not after your money, I’m a barrister, I’m well off – reasonably well off anyway. All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is my Dad. Okay?”

“Well, I’m sorry I misunderstood. It’s a nice thought but you’re going to be disappointed, I’m afraid; I’m not an adventurous type, no romantic liaisons.”

“Would you call a one-night stand a romantic liaison? One night when you were partying, maybe you were celebrating or something. She knew your name was Philip and you’d disappeared from her life for more than twenty years.”

Again, Philip Madden paused, thinking back. “When was this supposed to have happened?”

“Ah, a sensible question at last. It happened in July, Nineteen seventy nine…”

“Seventy nine? That’s thirty yea… ah, I see. Go on; where?”

“Sunnysides Golf and Caravan Club? Ring any bells? At Fleetwood?”

Philip took a deep breath.

“My mother was there with her parents, on holiday. She told me you saw each other at a dance and couldn’t take your eyes off each other. Maybe it was a birthday? I don’t know. She joined your group until the club closed and after that…” Carl stopped and when he spoke again, he was hesitant, embarrassed perhaps. “Guess you were intimate with each other. She was eighteen and a virgin.”

“What was her name?” Philip asked in a near whisper.

“Margaret Fletcher. You probably won’t remember.”

Philip didn’t respond though his mind conjured up an image of loveliness he had thought forgotten.

“Still there?” Carl asked after several seconds.

Philip cleared his throat. “Yes.”

“Got a computer?”

Philip nodded and then spoke. “Yes.”

“Give me your email address, I’ll send you her picture.”

Philip gave him his address.

The sound of a keyboard could be heard over the phone. “Right, just a minute. I was about two when this picture was taken, it may jog your memory.”

“Not sure it needs jogging now. But send me your address or phone number, I’ll get back to you.”

“I was hoping we could arrange a meeting now. After all, it’s the weekend tomorrow; maybe we can share a pub lunch.”

Philip felt a little breathless at the speed of things. “I suppose so. Where are you?”

“I live in Milton Keynes; I commute to the City most days. Right, I’ve put my address on the email, there, it’s gone.”

Philip had moved to Royston, in Hertfordshire, after his retirement… maybe fifty miles from Milton Keynes. Halfway would be around…?”

“You’re nearer Cambridge, right? We could meet at Bedford – no, it’s not a good road from there is it? How about Baldock?”

Baldock was nearer Royston than Milton Keynes, for which he was grateful, and he was familiar with the place. “Fine. Um, yes, there’s the Old White Heart on Station Road. You’ll need to be early on a Saturday.”

Philip agreed and put the phone down just as the computer tinkled, signaling the arrival of email.

He made a cup of coffee and went back to his desk, clicked the email button on the laptop to bring up the item, and opened the first attachment. He sat back and gazed at the picture – a young and beautiful woman who seemed to be looking straight into his eyes, a woman who peeled away the years like turning back through the pages of a book.

Philip had been there with three others from the University. Mark had suggested the clubhouse; “Always plenty of girls there,” he’d told the others, “looking for a bit of you-know and the clubhouse has a good dance floor, usually a good band too.” Rudi had grinned, any suggestion involving girls was a good one as far as he was concerned, and Chris went along with almost anything.

The recommendation was more than enough, a twenty-mile drive which was nothing when Mark had a car…

They had gone straight to the bar and as Philip turned to look around the room over the top of his pint, he met the woman’s eyes. She wore a black dress – her little black number, it had a slim hip-hugging skirt which appeared to effectively rule out anything wilder than a last waltz. The same enigmatic smile that looked out of his computer screen now had looked at him then; his heart felt the same now as it did then. He had to meet with Carl in the hope that his call had been an honest one; perhaps there was still a chance of the happiness he’d felt so long ago.

He opened the second attachment and looked at the man who said he was Philip’s son.

Front and Back Hardcover edition

How did you start your writing career?

My son Gavin used to ask me to tell him stories and when I ran out of books to read from I started making up my own. Much later I decided to put them onto paper. Unfortunately he was my soul mate and he died on a motor cycle twelve or so years ago.

Tell us about a favorite character from a book.

My favorite character has to be Cugel the Clever from Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. This man lives in a world of magic and has to be or act superhuman to survive. Unfortunately he never learns that there are far cleverer men than he, so goes through life making one mistake after the other without getting that message. But his journeying is really fun.

Does travel play a part in the writing of your books?

Oh yes, lots of times my heroes have to travel in their escapades and I need to have firsthand knowledge of the country or area I am writing about. If I didn't have I can imagine being pulled up by readers more savvy than I.

Tell us about your current release.

My current book The Diamond Seekers is really the story of a man who has had a raw deal, initially in losing his wife and child- the memory of which forces him to retire. He then receives a phone call from someone purporting to be his son, not the one who died but an illegitimate one. Arranging to meet up to discuss things the son does not appear and later the hero or his former friend are shot at. The hero flees to Austria, the only place he knows someone that others may not know but starts a search by the Mafia, Interpol, MI5 and MI6 for him in a hunt for a fortune in stolen diamonds. This is a fast paced thriller with any number of twists and has plenty of action and a love interest.

Tell us about your next release.

My next release centers on a British copper, Inspector Stewart White, a bright policeman with a widowed father in poor health. Taking over a new post with a regional crime squad he is faced with a multitude of different crimes to solve. My partner and I are hoping to make these into a series of books.

Has someone helped or mentored you in your writing career?

My partner David Coles has been my companion and muse for many years. We have stuck together through thick and thin and at times it has been far more of the thick. We use each other as sounding boards and never fall out; if ever one or the other of us is unhappy with the writing or an idea it is scrubbed.

Who is your favorite author?

I have more than one, Jack Vance for Fantasy, James Clavell for historic sagas: Shogun and the like. John Sandford and William Diehl for crime.

What is the hardest part of writing your books?

The re-writing and editing because you can become involved in the story and forget you are meant to be finding problems.

Everett Coles is two people, we also have books jointly published under the Jack Eeverett and David Coles names.

We started writing & publishing in the 20th Century, our favourite shared genres being fantasy and science fiction. We've also published historical books and, in paperback - thrillers and a WWII story.

We live in Yorkshire, England with our families and a growing collection of laptops.

Jack Everett is author and co-author of a number of fantasy & science fiction, crime and thriller novels. Some are published, some are in progress and others remain between the ears.

Jack also hand crafts the most stunning snooker cues imaginable and modern objects d'art from exotic and magnificently figured timbers. He collects books and playing cards though there is little space in a much overcrowded home.

... he dreams of having a bigger library. One day he may have the extra room he dreams of!

Robert Cleghorn was a good soldier, so good that he was first selected to join
the Special Forces and following a head injury, was recruited by the CIA. A
second head injury hospitalized him and psychiatrists rebuilt his memories from
what they could recover.
He escapes from the hospital where he was a virtual
prisoner and goes to find the love of his life: his brother’s wife and a
typically English rose. Always on a knife-edge, Robert quarrels with and kills
his sibling.
Finding his brother was about to go to England, Robert assumes
the other’s identity and heads for the UK. Blithely unaware that the memories of
his beloved are artificial, unaware of the mayhem about to erupt and the very
astute English copper soon to be seeking him and unaware, too, of the Americans
dogging his footsteps, Robert soldiers on. The fun is about to start.

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